Scenic National Parks: Crown Jewels Collection (Blu-Ray)

Every purchase you make through these Amazon links supports DVD Verdict's reviewing efforts. Thank you!

All Rise...

Judge Clark Douglas would rather view a breathtaking portrait of Yosemite Sam.

The Charge

The Ultimate National Parks Experience

The Case

I've been watching and reviewing a lot of nature films lately. To be more
specific, I've been watching and reviewing a lot of rather good nature films
lately. BBC documentaries like Wild
China, Planet Earth, and
Ganges. IMAX films such as The Alps
and Mystery of the Nile. I've
enjoyed it all immensely, and worried that if I reviewed too many more releases
of such majestic splendor, that I would be forced to start repeating all of my
positive adjectives. Sure enough, yet another series of nature documentaries is
next on my agenda. It's a box set called Scenic National Parks, which
compiles a total of six 49-minute programs that were produced for the Travel
Channel back in 2006.

The three primary features here are "Grand Canyon,"
"Yellowstone," and "Yosemite," which focus on popular and
well-known national parks. Each of these primary features is joined by a backup
feature, which centers on less popular attractions: "Grand Teton,"
"Wild National Parks," and "National Parks of the Great
Southwest. " Each film attempts to give us a broad look at the tourism,
accommodations, animals, plants, and geology of the park being discussed. Though
the primary features spotlight high-profile parks, each area is given an equal
amount of attention and discussion. This means that "Yellowstone"
feels a bit rushed, while "Grand Teton" piddles around for quite a
while (showing us lots of footage of rock climbers and explaining that the
mountains look like giant…uh, you know).

Though the documentaries are quite good-looking, I'm afraid that I don't
have nearly as much praise to lavish upon this set. Frankly, I found the
documentaries themselves to be a bit on the dull side, which is something I
would most assuredly never say about the films mentioned in the first paragraph.
The first problem comes from the narration, which sounds terribly wrong for this
sort of thing. When narrating a nature film, you're supposed to sound calm,
intelligent, wise, and thoughtful. Right? You can hear the smooth voice of David
Attenborough now: "Observe as the Gray Tree Frog considers his next move.
Does he make an attempt to break out into the unknown, or does he simply turn
around and give up? He has to be quite careful, because there are sure to be
lots of nasty Bull Frogs wandering about that would love to have our little gray
friend for supper." You get the idea. Here, we're given a narrator who
sounds as if he is doing the trailer for Beverly Hills Chihuahua or How to Eat Fried Worms. He's got that
vaguely sarcastic, overcooked tone: "We're gonna take a good look at
the Grand Canyon, which is one of the most magnificent sights in
the whole world!"

Call my complaint superficial if you like, but I found the narration to be
quite annoying. It seems to cheapen the documentaries a bit, as we always feel
like the narrator is a children's storyteller who is talking down to us rather
than helpfully informing us. Since there is no indication that these
documentaries were intended for young kids, I disapprove. Of course, adding to
this is the general lack of substance to these documentaries. There is a
surprisingly small amount of genuine information, and a whole lot of hyperbole.
Yes, we realize that Yellowstone is an "awesome place filled with amazing
animals," but how about some more stats? This business makes the
style-over-substance Planet Earth seem like a science textbook.

I feel that all of these features play way too much like tourism
advertisements rather than as in-depth documentaries. I suppose that makes
sense, considering that they were produced for the travel channel. Still, I
think that films like these should make us feel like we have been somewhere, not
just tease us and make us want to go there. That is precisely what Scenic
National Parks does, though. It spends time talking about all the different
places you can go in the park, what the most essential tourist attractions
are…we even get a significant amount of time devoted to talking about the
hotels and inns in the area. "Yes, we have 87 rooms, and there's usually
something free, so it's a great place for our guests to just drop in and stay at
while they're on vacation." What is this, a chamber of commerce video?

These complaints aside, these films do look pretty good in hi-def, though
that has a lot more to do with the lush visuals being presented than with the
quality of the transfer. The image here is actually a little soft and lacking in
sharp detail, but the natural images we're being presented with are frequently
so lovely that we're fooled into thinking that this is a great-looking release.
Audio is adequate, but nothing more. The largely synthetic scores really lack
punch, and the attempt to conjure up an artificial large-scale orchestra only
highlights the limitations of the electronics. There's nothing here that will
make your spine tingle, but it's a clean track. There are no supplements of any
kind. I'm tempted to give the set a pass for simply offering a hi-def look at
some lovely places, but no. There are all ready numerous superior options
available on Blu-ray, and there are surely more to come. Guilty.

Give us your feedback!

Did we give Scenic National Parks: Crown Jewels Collection (Blu-Ray) a fair trial? yes / no

What's "fair"? Whether positive or negative, our reviews should be unbiased, informative, and critique the material on its own merits.